


Universal Warning

by Kj_more_like_kgay



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Big Brother Loki, Big Brother Thor (Marvel), Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Canon-Typical Violence, Deaf Clint Barton, Elemental Magic, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Magic, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, OC Tal, Original Character(s), Other, Protective Bucky Barnes, Vision doesn't exist, confused, haven't decided yet, maybe smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:00:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19463551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kj_more_like_kgay/pseuds/Kj_more_like_kgay
Summary: “everyday the contents of the universe scream and scream, and sometimes, when it becomes truly unbearable, the universe screams back”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fanfic so please be nice, civil war didn't happen cap just found Bucky in Romania though he still went to wakanda, infinity war who? also vision doesn't exist I don't know how to write him at the moment

Every Hydra base Bucky had ever been in had the same smell. Damp, musk and an underlying hint of disinfectant, whether it be a base hidden in the mountains in Switzerland or warehouse in New York, they had it nailed. This one however seemed worse; as he and Steve moved further into the base, the damp had clung to them like a second skin, the musk hung on their nostrils and the sharp sting of the disinfectant hit the back of their throat, doing little to mask the scent of blood seemingly ingrained into the walls. The corridor they had walked down to reach the bases control centre seemed to have taken then to the very heart of whatever cliff the base had been built in, and one look around the room, after they had breached and taken out the Hydra staff frantically trying to lock down the systems, told them why.

One side of the room was pretty standard for the bases they’d taken down so far; computers and screens conveying security footage from various places within the base, different controls and information hubs showing and asking for data, that went well over the heads of both he and Steve; that was what Tony and Natasha were for. It was the other side that had them stopping in their paths to the computers they were here for; the walls surrounding the area were made of metal, with a small metal table covered in more metal instruments. But this wasn’t the worst part, the part that made Bucky’s heart fall into his stomach. In the centre of it all was a girl, or what was left of one. Body strapped to a table, arms out and elevated, as if to give whoever walked by a view of what had happened, whatever had been done. Her shaved head had lulled to the side, her eyes stuck open and fixed to a point just beyond him, mouth open in an eternal scream at what had been done to her, in the name of Hydra.

That wasn’t what shocked him, he knew first hand the death Hydra was capable of. What shocked him were the girl’s injuries, with the cuts beginning on her clavicle and spreading along any flesh below it. Huge chunks were missing, most noticeably on her abdomen which appeared to be pinned open, showing the lack of organs and both her pelvis and ribs peaking through. He clenched his jaw as he emptied another round into what he presumed was the scientists body, his blood running out and mixing with the pool of hers on the plastic tarp flooring.

“There’s nothing more we can do Buck, come on.” Steve got out, his face stoic as he made his way over to the computer bank and began plugging in the device Tony had given him, to retrieve any salvageable data.

Bucky couldn’t look away, he was aware of Steve getting on with the mission to the side of him, but his whole body had clenched, the tension in his jaw radiating down his body. He was aware that Hydra had continued on with their human experimentation, Wanda and the never ending cells of bodies they were always finding were proof of that, but this just seemed like destruction for the sake of destruction, the girl couldn’t have been more than 17; the angle at which she was being held up, along with the way in which her insides had just been piled haphazardly onto a nearby table made it clear the purpose was anything but scientific. His body moved of its own accord, all he could hear was the thumping of the blood in his head, as his mind seemed to float above his body. A stumble at first, then purposeful steps, as he tried to avoid the blood and some body parts, he made his way over to her.

She deserves to be at rest, he thought, looking down at her fixed eyes. Slowly – respectfully – he told himself, he reached down to close her eyes, hoping that once they were shut they could both feel some remnant of peace with what had happened, and he could get back to the mission. Wet. His hands, were wet? Looking up to make sure there wasn’t a leak, though they were so far underground by this point, it couldn't have been the rain, he looked back at her face. Tears. She was crying.

“STEve” Bucky yelled, falling back a little bit as he checked her pulse “Steve she’s still alive”

It was a blur of movement after that. After checking her pulse himself – it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bucky’s word, but more he didn’t want to believe someone in such a state was somehow still alive – Steve got on the comms, calling to the others for help.

He wasn’t sure how they got back onto the quinjet but he knew Tony and maybe Bruce had been involved; she had been kept on the table she had been displayed on, the straps keeping her in place replaced with some sort of cling-film, cocooning her from head to toe. Somehow, despite Bruce’s refusal to do anything, short of administering fluids and antibiotics without proper medical equipment – encase he somehow made anything ‘worse’ - she survived the flight back to the compound, with Dr. Cho’s, medical team meeting them at the hanger.

Bruce and Tony disappeared with them, throwing ideas back and forth on how she was still alive and pulling up the files Steve had recovered from the base, diving straight into science mode. The rest of the team went about their usual post-mission routines, some slinking off to their rooms or the gym, others going towards the kitchen to get started on happy hour; Bucky however stuck to the waiting room, and after a concerned look and shoulder squeeze from Steve, he resigned himself to a wait alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Bucky had begun to drift off, the grim on his face meshing with the grim on his arm as his body tried to remain upright in the chair, when she was finally wheeled out and into a room. The harsh lighting of the medbay made her ghost like complexion stand out even more, with obvious shadows falling under her cheekbones, the malnutriment making her appear as a skeleton with skin. Gauze covered every inch of skin not covered by the paper of the hospital gown the surgical staff must have put on her at some point, and the slow beeping of the heart rate machine was the only indication that this ghost of a girl was still alive.

The update he was given was short and unnerving – without knowing more about her physiology they could do little more than debride any necrotic tissue, bath her in antibiotics and stitch up any of the more minor surface wounds; the risk of putting her in the cradle to regenerate the organs she had lost was higher than that of just leaving her without, so the wound had been packed and sealed to prevent any infection. Bucky didn’t understand why all this was getting to him so much, he’d seen the worst of Hydra, hell, he’d lived it, but for some reason this was shaking him to his core. He was still in his mission uniform, minus his munitions belt that Natasha had swung by to collect, after he made it clear he wasn’t leaving her side, until either her condition improved or declined – even when he was at his worst he had Steve in his corner and this girl had nothing, no one gunning for her, so that’s what he decided he’d be; someone to sit in the uncomfortable plastic chairs, holding her hand and willingly her to be ok.

Over the next few days Bucky and Bruce were a constant in her room, with the others that weren’t on missions floating in and out – Bucky had been convinced by Steve to at least move for showers and food and Bruce was constantly hovering around administering tests, and trying to figure out the best way to get fluids and nutrients into her given her lack of organs. The changes were subtle: scans started to show artefacts where there hadn’t been before, small enough that if she were a normal human in a normal hospital it would have been written off as shadows; her colouring went from that of a corpse to that of someone who was just seriously ill, losing the chalky undertone, with areas such as her cheeks and lips gaining a pinkish tint; most obvious of all was the growth of her hair. What had started off as stubble, from whatever Hydra had cut it with, had grown out long enough to frame her face in a pixie cut, the wisps forming a halo on the pillow as she remained unconscious.

Days turned into weeks, Bruce and his team working none stop to try and figure out the next plan of treatment, with Bucky and the occasional Steve dropping into visit once a day. An NG tube was finally administered - the artefacts in her empty scans had formed almost fully functioning organs - allowing for a small amount of weight to be gained and for her to start looking like a coma patient, rather than a corpse. By week 5 she was almost completely healed, minor cuts and bruises remained where there had once been missing chunks, missing teeth had grown in and her hair was now just past her shoulders – the only part that didn’t seem to heal, confusing the hell out of Bruce, were 2 large wounds on her back, which remained packed in gauze.

Bucky was on his way to visit her when he heard alarms sounding throughout the medbay, blue pulsing lights and the rush of nurses towards her room. Running in, thinking something bad had happened, he was greeted by the sight of 2 nurses struggling to pin her struggling form down, and a doctor rushing about trying to find some form of sedative.

“no more, please, please, pleeeease no more” she begged, the shake in her voice evident, bucking violently against the nurses attempting to restrain, her eyes glazed over as they darted around the room, tears pouring down her face.

“You.” her eyes were fixed on Bucky now, still glazed as if she was looking right through him, her voice turning misty and slightly slurred as whatever the doctor gave her began to kick in “blue…..eyes so blue…...the pit of Midgard so dark…..but then blue.”

Bucky just stood there in shock as she fell back into unconsciousness, the doctors pushing their way into the room and him out as they began to reassess her injuries and re-administer the tubes and wires she’d been able to rip out. No one but Steve had ever looked at him with such hope in their eyes, such trust, and it shook him to his core as he went over and over the small interaction in his head. She’d said Midgard, the only person he knew who spoke like that was Thor. Perhaps this was a clue; a clue to finding out who she was and how the hell she had survived being hacked open akin to a biology class frog dissection, and maybe figuring out why he felt such a pull towards her.


	3. Chapter 3

The second time she woke up was much more controlled, with the sedation being slowly lifted with Wanda with Bucky at her side; Wanda wasn’t on a mission and it was decided that her soft spoken, calm mannerisms would help prevent the panic of the first time. It was a gradual process, the drugs taking a while to exit her system, so even when she opened her eyes there was a heavy fog settled over her mind, the lights blurring together so she could only see were shapes. One thing she could see was blue; piercing, cutting through the fog, identifying the larger of the dark blurs as the man that had found her. She felt his hand, cradling hers like it was made of glass and might break at any minute. It was grounding, like a lighthouse in the middle of a storm.  
When Bucky had noticed she’d began to wake he’d exchanged a quick look with Wanda, trying to convey some of the worry he was feeling, unsure how she’d react to exchanging one clinical space for another. This time there wasn’t a struggle, just the slight flop of her hand as she tried to grip his hand tighter, her bright green eyes unblinking as she opened her mouth, as if to talk.  
“Here, drink this.” Wanda said holding a cup of water up to the girls mouth, coaxing the straw up to her lips which she willingly accepted; it had been a long time since she’d had the luxury of water. “I’m Wanda, this is Bucky, he was one of the ones that found you.”  
“Blue.” it was a statement, not a question, her wide eyes boring into Bucky's clear blue ones. “I’m Tal.” the words were gravelly, a combination of dehydration and lack of use – her vocal chords had been removed by the Hydra scientists as a way to keep her quiet, only they would know the last time she was able to push words out of her mouth. She remained mainly silent after this, nodding her and there to signal she was listening as Wanda softly explained things she didn’t fully understand – like where she was – but also mentioning names and information about people that lived in this strange compound, slowly lifting the tension she felt all over her body; the people that had held her before had never talked to her like she was a person, she was just a subject to them.  
“So I’m going to help you get out of that hospital gown, Bucky if you could step out -”  
“NO” Tal interrupted, jumping up and clinging on to his hand as if her life depended on it; in her eyes, it did. Bucky’s eyes softened, moving so both his hands engulfed hers; he knew what she was going through all too well – when he first moved into the compound he stuck to Steve’s side like glue.  
“Hey, sweetheart it’s ok, I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right outside the door waiting, then we can get you to somewhere nicer, maybe some fresh air?” She seemed to perk up at the idea of leaving the medbay, slowly releasing the vice like grip she had on his hand – if he wasn’t a super soldier he was sure that it’d bruise. Wanda was starting to help Tal up, in order to get her changed into the stock grey sweatpants that they always had on hand, so Bucky took that as his cue to leave. Turning away from her, he felt all the air leave his lungs as he flashed a smile over his shoulder, momentarily meeting her green stare before the door shut and suddenly he could breathe again. Sliding down the wall until he felt himself hit the floor, he cradled his head in his hands, pushing the long strands of hair out of his face as he took deep breaths; this shouldn’t be taking this much out of him. Sure, there was an uncomfortable parallel between his time in Hydra and hers – they were both experimented on for the amusement of the scientists - but he couldn’t understand the gut deep pull he had towards her. It was a connection he hadn’t felt before, besides the one he had with Steve, and he’d helped a lot of Hydra victims in the time he’d been with the Avengers. This was almost instinctual, like he had to take care of her. It was unnerving – he valued himself on having control over his mind since Wakanda – so this pull towards her, that he couldn’t quite put his finger, had him rattled.  
Red mist opening the door next to him had him hurrying to his feet, fixing up his hair and plastering, what he considers, a gentle smile on his face as her wide darting eyes fixed on his. Wanda started pushing her wheelchair at a steady pace - though she was awake and moving, her muscles hadn’t fully formed yet - taking the long route to the residential floor in order to point out most frequented areas; both the gyms, the hangar, cafeteria, social rooms - it was hard for Tal to take in so much new information after such along with little, to no stimulation, but she gave a small smile, the odd nod, to show that she was at least hearing what Wanda was saying, even if she wasn’t properly processing it.  
“Ok so this next bit is Avengers only, only certain people can get in these areas” Wanda explained, walking them through the doors that had automatically opened, into an open living area.  
“Safe?” Tal asked, eyes darting quickly, taking in as much of the space as possible. Bucky realised she was canvasing exits, but also potential hiding spots, something he used to do obsessively when he first left Hydra.  
“Yes, safe.” he reassured, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, wincing internally as she flinched, but then allowed the contact. He should have known she’d be jumpy at his touch - they had no idea how long she’d been Hyrda’s plaything for - but he did it almost on instinct.  
“Birdbrains!” Bucky exclaimed loudly, after noticing Sam and Clint watching something in the lounge area; not quite a shout, to avoid startling Tal, but somehow loud enough for Clint to fall off the back of the sofa.   
“Oh um hey.” the lean blonde greeted, picking himself up from the floor and walking towards them, offering a wave “I’m Clint, may know me as Hawkeye?”  
“Tal, um Hawkeye?” she appeared confused at the monica.  
“She doesn’t know who we are dummy” the slightly larger, dark skinned man said, giving him a playful cuff over the head as he approached her wheelchair “I’m Sam, glad you’re finally up and about.” he went to offer her his hand, but her widened eyes and a subtle head shake from Bucky had him turn it into swooping wave. “Not a toucher, I get it, shoulda seen this guy when he first got here”  
The playful nudge accompanying his statement had Bucky rolling his eyes and muttering “jerk” but there was no malice in the action. He turned his attention back towards Tal, who had been silently absorbing the conversation, picking at the hem of the grey SHIELD jumper Wanda had put her in. The feeling of clothes was strange to her after so long without, and even then they were nothing like what she was used to, the fibres were slightly constrictive and irritating on her skin.  
“Did you still want to go outside or did you want to go rest up?” Bucky asked her softly, bending down a little so she could hear. She was taken aback at the question, she was used to having things done to her, without anyone caring what she wanted.  
“Outside?” she answered quietly, slightly unsure in case it was a test. Sam watched on, clearly amused with how soft and careful Bucky was being with her, compared to the gruff and bristly persona he was used to Bucky having, with everyone except Steve.  
“Sure doll, lets go.” he said whilst intercepting the handles of her wheelchair from Wanda, leading her away from the group that had begun, thanks to Clint, arguing on about what take outs the group was ordering for dinner. The large, floor length windows split down the middle as they approached, revealing a deck overlooking what could possibly pass as garden connecting the other buildings in the compound. A peaceful expression crossed over her face, the least tense Bucky had seen her since they woke her up, as she tilted her head to feel the sun and take in her surroundings.  
“I haven’t seen the sun in over 70 years,” she began, speaking softly as she reached out her hand and gave his a soft squeeze. “thank you Mr Bucky.” Shocked doesn’t even begin to describe how Bucky felt upon hearing this, mixed with disgust and anger towards the people that look decades of not just her life, but his as well. He could feel the tension in his jaw, as he ground his teeth together, turning his head and feigning interest in the landing pad so she couldn’t see. He partially blamed himself; he had been in Hydra for around 70 years, yet none of his recovered memories had even suggested at her existence - had he know they could’ve got to her a lot sooner. Maybe that was why he was drawn to her, guilt mixed with their similar circumstances.  
He was so caught up in these thoughts, his guilt, that he didn’t notice her struggling until it was too late; she had managed to shove herself out of the wheelchair. With almost lightning fast reflexes he managed to catch her before she hit the floor, slowly lowering her into the grass with a concerned look.  
“Doll you’ve gotta -” the words ‘be careful’ died in his throat at the sight before him. The pale pallor had left her skin, leaving behind a healthy glow, a glow that seemed to radiate off her body, seeping into the grass around her. A lyrical, song like giggle broke from her lips as the air seemed to swirl around, picking up her hair and making it dance around her face. The grass, previously a yellowish green from the summer heat, was now a lush green, with small flowers like daisies and clovers appearing before his very eyes, surrounding her body like a silhouette.  
“What the fuck.” Clint's voice cut through, making him turn away from the spectacle in front of him to see Clint, Wanda and Sam all gawking at Tal and the weird nature show going on around her. Any other comments that he was about to say got shushed with a death promising glare from Bucky, as they all watched on in both awe and confusion. The air hummed, a palpable static in the air, causing all their hair to stand on end as the wind sped up, whipping around as leaves and debris flew up into their faces; Clint and Sam exchanged concerned glances, wondering if they were going to have to intervene somehow. Bright, almost blinding light clouded their vision, glinting off Bucky’s metal arm as shielded his face from it. The light was accompanied by a loud crashing, thunder rolling away from the landing pad to reveal a familiar hunched figure.  
Tal shot up right like a dart, turning an intense gaze towards him and whispered. “Thor?”  
“Lillesøster?!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeet, I don't know if I'll manage to update exactly on time next week cos new job is long but I'll try my best

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aiming for weekly updates but lifes a bitch so don't hate me if it doesn't happen


End file.
